Curse of the Carriers
by Grimmuald
Summary: What had Zoey, Louis, Francis and Bill escaped from? What was in store for the Nick, Coach, Rochelle, and Ellis? Join some of the last survivors of the apocalypse as they try to survive a zombie outbreak when even their own government wants them dead.
1. Chapter 1: What is hidden

**Curse of the Carriers**

What had Zoey, Louis, Francis and Bill escaped from? what was in store for the Nick, Coach, Rochelle, and Ellis? Join some of the last survivors of the apocalypse as they try to survive a zombie filled world, where even their own government wants them dead.

Rated M: for language and violence

I don't own Left 4 Dead; it's too epic for me.

This chapter introduces two of the 4 new survivors and gives hints of fates of the old ones, the new survivors will eventually meet up with the old ones (all 7 of them), as they will play a major role in the story and its not Left 4 Dead without them.

No parings yet, but suggestions are welcome, just not gay stuff because I don't do that.

**Chapter 1: What is hidden**

As the blue and white stock car drove away from the bridge, three people were waving their farewells.

"Should we have told them?" Louis asked the others, feeling a little guilty.

"No." Zoey replied sadly "Things are already bad enough for them as it is."

As the three got ready to move on, Louis couldn't help but hope that their new friends would have a better reception waiting for them, then the one that he, Francis, Zoey, and Bill escaped from…

_Several days later…_

"Son, I am covered with zombie guts, puke, eyeballs, and 20 other parts that I don't even know, we are sure as shit immune." Coach roared into the radio that they found on a corpse on the bridge.

"Eagle seven, are you equipped for carriers?" The man on the other end of the radio asked another.

"Yes sir." Came the reply.

As they were given instructions Nick couldn't help but feel that maybe they were escaping the frying pan, but jumping into the fire, he had read enough on the walls that being called carriers didn't install much hope in him. But as Ellis hit the switch to lower the bridge, Nick just shrugged; they couldn't do much about it now, if they were lucky, maybe the military wouldn't just line them up against the wall and shoot them, it was a long shot but then again, so was getting across that bridge…

_Half an hour later…_

Pilot Harris couldn't help but shake his head sadly at the sounds of celebration from the cargo hold. While he was safe enough from the carriers where he was, he couldn't help but feel sorry for them. How horrible it must be to survive that nightmare, only to find yourself in something worse, He hoped that no one else would survive to find out what was in store for them. With a sinking feeling, Harris steered the chopper towards the military quarantined safe zone, and research lab…

_Several cities away…_

"ARR Crap!" Clark yelled into the night as the car's alarm sounded. Clark was a young man with short brown hair, wearing a black jacket with jeans and a black shirt. He also was holding a pistol like he knew how to use it.

The tell-tale cry of the infected reached his ear as he tried to put as much space between him and the beeping car as possible. As the sound of running increased behind him, he leapt into a small supermarket shop and quickly pushed one of the shelves to block the door. As the zombies hammered on the door, Clark ran through the back, pausing long enough to grab the pump shotgun on the way since he had lost his original rifle.

As he ran through the back alleys, he couldn't help but marvel at how quickly his life had changed over a few short weeks. Several weeks ago, which felt like forever and a half for him; he had been a police officer with a nice small home and good friends. Now all his friends were dead or worse, and he was running and fighting a never-ending army of zombies. He had long since given up on finding any other survivors, as every lead he had followed from writing on the safe room walls had lead him to dead bodies and a near death experience. He had also tried several evac zones, but each one had been abandoned, and the writing left their made him even more worried. By this point he had pretty much accepted the fact that he had really been left for dead, and now only had the goal in mind was surviving to kill as many zombies as he could, if only so someone else could escape.

Clark rounded a corner only to find it blocked off with a hastily made barricade, complete with CEDA posters all over it. He couldn't help but curse CEDA when he saw it. The company really had no idea what they were doing when they tried to deal with the situation, making people think that all they had to do was wash their hands and banning weapons had killed more people then he had zombies, and he had lost count of that long ago.

Clark headed into a warehouse, hoping to dig up some supplies, since if he didn't find food soon, zombies were gonna be finding him because of the sound of his stomach grumbling. He grabbed an axe that had been abandoned near by and proceeded to use it to open several boxes, a bit over kill, but he just wanted to hit something that didn't want to rip him a new one. As he checked the boxes, he heard an angry roar, a roar that installed dread in him every time he heard it. His fears were confirmed when a zombie that made body builders look weak charged through the doors. Clark quickly cycled through his options. He could try to take the tank… His axe and shotgun weren't filling him with confidence on that idea since he had seen one of these things rip its way through an actual tank. He could try to run… the tank is in the way of the only door and the upstairs walkway didn't have a way out. Or he could wing it and hope for the best. No matter what the situation, he usually picked option three.

Quickly drawing his shotgun, he opened fire and back peddled as fast as he could. The tank roared in annoyance and ran after him, running on all fours like an ape, he quickly navigated his way through the boxes, hoping to get around the tank so he could find a better spot to defend, but this time, luck was giving him the finger. Clark felt something hard crash into him, and realised that the tank had knocked a large metal shelf into him.

As adrenalin from fear coursed through him, Clark managed to extricate himself from the shelf, only to find that the tank had almost reached him. He continued to pump shell after shell into the massive beast, but he may as well have tried to punch a brick wall for all the good it was doing.

Just as it reached him and raised one massive arm to punch him into next week, he heard a shout from the other side of the warehouse.

"Duck!"

He fell rather then ducked, just managing to avoid the blow. He then heard the sound of a small machine gun firing as the tank roared in frustration. It then turned around, charging towards the newcomer. Taking advantage of the distraction, Clark got back to his feet and continued to shoot at the tank. Luckly for him, Tanks aren't really known for their intelligence, as it continued to rush the newcomer, who was much further away from it then Clark was.

The giant gave one last defiant roar before it tumbled to the ground. Now without the monstrosity blocking his view, Clark could now see the newcomer clearly.

She was around his age, had midnight black hair, wearing black Jeans, a grey shirt, and a dark brown jacket that was covered with the images of skulls. She was also expertly welding a TMP.

"Ah, hi." He said after a moment's hesitation, realizing that she hadn't lowered her gun.

"Don't move." She told him as she walked cautiously towards him, weapon still trained on him.

Clark silently cursed himself as his shotgun was currently pointing uselessly towards the ground.

Gun still pointed at him, she started to search him for something.

"What are you…" He started but was then interrupted

"Ok, you're clean." She told him, lowering her own gun.

Suddenly, he realized what she had been checking for.

"You could have asked if I was bit or not." He told her.

"I've been lied to too many times to believe that." She told him. She then turned around to leave.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" Clark asked her, a bit alarmed.

She stopped and turned to him "Away." She told him curtly.

"Whoa, hold on a sec, sorry if this is a bit forward but I haven't met another survivor for ages now, just that, wouldn't it be better if we sticked together." He asked her quickly.

"It wouldn't, people die around me." She told him bluntly.

"Ok, so you've had some bad experiences, but just how much longer do you think you can survive on your own." He asked her, with the same question that had been bugging himself for a while now.

She seemed to think about what he had said for a moment before saying "Fine, but we're not staying here; we'll live longer on the move."

"Don't worry, I found that out the hard way." He told her.

"There's a safe room across the street from here, I was just finding some supplies when I found you." She told him.

They checked three more buildings on their side of the street, two of which were empty, the third however was a different story.

"Hey, check this out." Clark called to the girl who he didn't know the name of yet.

He had just finished braining a zombie with his new axe when he found a room that had obviously been used to stockpile food.

They stocked up on as much food as they could carry, and headed to the safe room, where they barred the door.

As he and his new friend started to gather ammo and medical supplies that were in the room, Clark decide to make introductions.

"Well, uh, my name is Clark… you?" he asked her.

She looked up from cleaning her TMP "Taylor" she answered.

"Nice to meet you." He told her sincerely. When she didn't say anything more, he decided to ask another question.

"So, what did you do before all this?" He asked her curiously

"Army, I was a combat engineer, and one of the best shooters during training." She told him, without bothering to look up this time.

"Well, that explains how you survived this long." He said.

"So what did you do then?" She asked him.

"Me? I was a police officer, absolutely aced everybody when it came to accuracy tests, also ended up training with the special weapons team, learnt how to use heavy weaponry and such, never though I would have to use it though." He told her, trailing of at the end.

Taylor was about to answer when they heard the toilet flush in from behind the closed door in the safe room.

In a flash they both had their weapons trained on the door as it burst open…

(Suggestions, comments, feel free to review)


	2. Chapter 2:Greetings and Meetings

Rated M: for language and violence

I don't own Left 4 Dead; it's too epic 4 me.

**Chapter 2: Greetings and meetings**

_Taylor was about to answer when they heard the toilet flush from behind the closed door in the safe room._

_In a flash they both had their weapons trained on the door as it burst open…_

"The hell did you lot come from?"

The speaker, who had just left the toilet, was a tall man with blond hair and a medium build. He wore a black shirt with _the midnight riders _logo on it, jeans, and studded black boots that made Clark feel like they would detach from his feet and try to eat him. He was holding a pump shotgun and had a cricket bat, and also a very surprised look on his face.

"Outside, obviously." Taylor told him shortly.

"Since you were in here to begin with, why was the door open?" Clark asked curiously.

"Let's just say that, the call to nature was rather urgent." He told them evasively "and it also seems that the toilet is soundproof, ah who are you two again?"

"I'm Clark, an ex police officer." Clark told him

They both looked at Taylor, who just shook her head and went back to checking her guns.

"And that antisocial Ice queen is Taylor." He finished.

"Hey! I resent that." Taylor cut in, slightly amused.

"I'm Sam, I used to be part of a gang, but I left them before the apocalypse hit, but it did help me survive since then." Sam told them. "Why are you looking at me funny Clark?"

"Just wondering if I had arrested you before." He explained with a thoughtful look on his face.

"No, I only got arrested once, and that was by an officer who was a lot bigger around the middle then you." Sam told him.

"What? You mean officer Lorens, I didn't know he had managed to catch anybody." Clark replied, slightly stunned.

"He only got me because one of my fellow gang members was a dumbass, he stole the guy's cheeseburger." Sam explained.

"That explains a lot." Clark chortled "You never want to get between Lorens and his food."

"So anyway, where you too headed?" Sam asked.

"Don't know yet." Clark replied "don't suppose you would have any ideas, would you?"

"I was planning to head to the top of that really tall office block and try to signal one of the choppers I saw flying about with some of these flares." Sam told him, while showing them several flare sticks.

"Well, that's better then what my plan was gonna be." Clark told him.

"What was your idea?" Taylor asked to their surprise.

"I didn't have one." He told her with a grin.

Taylor just rolled her eyes and went back to her work.

"Say, I don't suppose you two would want to come with me would you?" Sam asked "I mean, it's a whole lot riskier going out by yourself then sticking together."

"We seemed to do fine on our own." Taylor told him.

"What? How long have you guys been working by yourselves for?" Sam asked.

While Taylor made a sign signifying 5 days, Clark replied with "Dunno, lost count by this point, might be around 4 or 5 weeks now."

"How the hell did you survive for so long?" Sam asked.

"Luck" Clark replied, at the same time Taylor said "Skill".

They both paused for a second before Taylor said "In my experience there is no such thing as luck."

"And I have gotten out of so many sticky situations that I can't help but believe in luck." Clark responded.

"I mean." He continued "I'm good, but half the situations that I have been in, I'm sure as shit that my skill had no way of saving me."

"Anyway." Clark said before anyone else could respond "I really think we should stick together, and Sam's plan sounds like a good one, well, better then just aimlessly wondering the city at any rate."

"Fine" Taylor agreed exasperatedly "Then let's get some sleep while we still can, I really don't want to go in there half awake when I don't have to."

The other two readily agreed and after a quick meal of tined peaches, they all eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

_Military safe zone and research facility…_

"Hey! What the hell man! Why you locking us up here for? We're not infected!" Ellis yelled through the bars of his and Coach's cell at their guards retreating back.

"Hellooooo" Ellis called as the guard disappeared around the corner. "Ah Hell."

Ellis headed over and sat dejectedly on one of the beds in his and Coach's one room cell.

"This is Hogwash man! The army was supposed to be saving our asses, not locking them up." He complained.

"I know man." Coach agreed "But hey, at least we won't have to constantly watch our backs for surprise zombie attacks now."

"I don't know about you but I think I would take the zombies over this, waiting, I mean why did they even bother locking us up for? They could have just lined us up and shot us like they did those others. I really don't like this man." Ellis told him darkly.

"I guess there's not much we can do about it but wait." Coach concluded.

"I was afraid you were gonna say that." Ellis told him "I just hope they haven't done anything to Ro or Nick."

_Street safe room, the next morning…_

Clark woke up to the bright morning glow from outside, he immediately wished that he hadn't and tried to go back to sleep again.

After a few more minutes he gave up trying to sleep as a bad joke and got up. Their one room and a toilet safe room was bathed in the morning light, but the effect of a nice morning was ruined by the ever present growls of infected near by.

Since the other two were still sleeping on the floor in the sleeping bags that were kept in the safe room, Clark decided to do an inventory check.

Shotgun… Check, if he lost that he may as well walk around with an all you can eat sign.

Extra ammo… Check, hadn't forgot that yet, and not planning to in the near future.

Flashlight and batteries… Check, one time he had forgotten extra batteries and had his flashlight run out in the middle of an ambush at night, bad night that one.

Food supplies… Check, good to know that nobody had eaten any of his stuff while he was asleep.

Medpack… Check, since the infection started, CEDA had brought, and encouraged others to pull together, packs of medical supplies in red bags, with out these, anyone lasting this long would have been in serious trouble.

His… Axe? He had almost forgotten he still had the thing.

Two snoring idiots on the floor… double check.

When he was satisfied that he hadn't forgotten anything, he brought his attention back at his two new companions.

Taylor seemed to be rather cold and defensive since he had first met her, although he wasn't sure if she had always been like that, or if that attitude had been born from surviving in a world where everything could end up being striped away from you before you could turn around. She also seemed to be like the more calm and tactical one, which he assumed would have come from her military training.

Sam on the other hand was a different story. While Taylor seemed to be the closed, ice cold, tactician, Sam seemed to be the open, warm, impulsive, liability. Since their personalities were almost the polar opposites of each other, Clark got the feeling that he might end up being the diplomat so they didn't tear each other apart.

Just then, a very loud snore from Sam interrupted his musings, deciding that he couldn't take much more snoring; he kicked Sam in the shin to wake him up.

"Uh, what time is it?" He groaned, half asleep.

"Dunno, my watch stopped working, now get up already." Clark told him as Taylor started stirring from the noise.

As they both got up, Clark found himself laughing, it was obvious that all 3 of them were not morning people, but Clark had found his reactions tame compared to these two in front of him.

Taylor had the look of someone who had just woken up from a hard night of partying, with her normally straight black hair sticking up in all directions. And Sam, while looking alright, tried to head to the bathroom, but ended up walking into a wall.

As they continued to wake themselves up and gather their gear, Clark went back to his old pass time of reading the graffiti on the safe room walls. With graffiti left as the only form of leaving reliable messages, it often made for either and entertaining or useful read. As sometimes important information would be passed on, like evac sites, and information on the various infected, which was the way that they were given their names.

On this particular wall there were some amusing ones…

_Where is Chuck Norris!_

_He's dead you idiot._

_This shit was not in my plans!_

_Then flush the toilet before you leave you monster!_

Your usual paranoid raving…

_He's always there, watching you, waiting for the perfect moment to screw you over!_

_The hell are you talking about?_

_Fear the director!_

Useful information

_Listen for the fat ones, they make lots of noise._

Not so useful information

_CEDA Sucks!_

_N_

And the occasional arrogant asshole

_Zombies don't infect Chicago Ted! He infects them!_

_Alert! Asshole spotted._

"We all set?" Sam asked, having finished waking up and collecting his gear.

"Yep." Clark replied, Taylor just nodded.

"Alright! Then its time to kick some Zombie ass!" Sam said before flinging open the safe room door.

(Suggestions, comments, feel free to review)


	3. Chapter 3: The Silent City

Rated M: for language and violence

I don't own Left 4 Dead; it's too epic 4 me.

**Chapter 3: The Silent City**

"_Alright! Then its time to kick some Zombie ass!" Sam said before flinging open the safe room door._

They exited out onto the street, which was littered with abandoned cars, debris, bodies, and the occasional zombie.

"That's where we should be headed." Sam pointed towards one of the largest high rise buildings. "It's like, several blocks over, but we should make it before nightfall."

As Clark nodded in agreement, Taylor spoke up "We should find a way through the buildings rather then the streets."

When Sam looked at her she explained "Many of the streets are blocked for some reason or another, and the zombies are harder to defend against in wide areas, We would be better off through the houses as it's easier for us to defend, and we are less likely to run into some of the larger ones."

"Sounds good." Clark agreed "also keep an eye out for anything we can use."

The three headed out, towards an apartment block that hadn't been boarded up.

Taylor found herself on the tail end of the group as they entered the building. They headed up several flights of stairs, before entering a hallway which led to many of the apartment houses.

As they navigated their way through the wreckage left behind by the previous inhabitancies, Taylor heard the familiar growl of a hunter, emanating from one of the rooms they had just passed. She motioned quietly for Clark and Sam to wait, but just as she did, Sam tripped over some debris on the floor, causing him to crash into a trolley. The resulting noise was so loud that a large group of zombies raced out of their rooms to find the source of the noise.

All three of them open fire on the pack, dropping most of them before they had even reached them; unfortunately the hunter had used the chaos to leap at Clark before he had time to react. Knocking him to the ground, Clark yelled.

"GET OFF ME YOU LITTLE BITCH!"

Giving the zombie in front of her a shove, Taylor knocked it off balance into the zombies behind, giving her enough time to turn, grab the hunter, and forcefully throw it into the wall, before filling it with bullets.

By that time Clark had gotten to his feet, pulled out his axe, and started hacking his way through the zombies that were trying to rip him a new one.

Taylor turned back to her zombies with a scowl before opening fire. She was sure that she could have avoided the entire mess if she hadn't decided to work with Clark in the first place. On that matter, she was still trying to figure out why she had decided to team up with him. It certainly wasn't because of his attempt to reason with her common sense. After Kelly, Josh, and Andrew had died fighting that tank, she had decided to stay away from other people, and just search for her kid brother and a way out on her own. Then, just when she had finally tracked the Tank that had killed her old friends to the warehouse, she ended up finding someone else. She had only leapt in to save him out of instinct, so why hadn't she just ditched him?

She shook her head and finished off the last few zombie stragglers.

"Yea, sorry 'bout' that." Sam apologised, slightly embarrassed

"Whatever." Taylor replied "Let's just check the rooms then since we just cleared them out."

They quickly searched as many rooms as they dared; Taylor's search had found nothing, as she saw Sam, the look on his face told her that he had found the same. Clark on the other hand came running up to them with a while capsule bottle in his hand.

"Hey guys, I found some drugs that could come in useful." He told them, throwing the pills at Sam.

"Pain pills huh?" He said, looking at the label. "Where did you find them?"

"Funnily enough, in the toilet." Clark replied with a grin.

"Eugh!" Sam yelled before throwing them back to Clark like they were suddenly red hot.

"I did wash the bottle first stupid." Clark told him, throwing it back.

"Oh, uh never mind then." Sam said, before shoving it into his pocket.

Taylor shook her head again. She knew what Sam was like, she had met many people like him in the army, Rash, impulsive, tough as nails, but ultimately trustworthy, and the kind of person you would want guarding you back. But she found Clark odd, when she looked at him, she couldn't tell if he was actually was actually a light-hearted joker who didn't get affected by anything, or if it was just a cover.

"Anyway, we should get moving again, these guys seem to be able to sniff you out if you stay too long." Clark told them, interrupting Taylor's train of though while kicking one of the zombie's corpses for good measure.

They left the apartment block through one of the windows, and jumped from the balcony to a bus that had been abandoned on the street. That, along with several cars, blocked up the street, making driving close to impossible without a monster truck, or a bulldozer.

They jumped down, and began looking for another path to help reach the office block. Taylor spotted out an alley that looked like it was heading in the right direction, pointing it out to the others, they headed over, but as Clark poked his head around the corner into the alley, a loud roar echoed from the alleyway, and a tank came roaring from around the corner, whacking Clark as it went, sending him over the cars that blocked the street.

Taylor and Sam started 'advancing' backwards to the cars while shooting at the tank, which had picked them as its new target.

As they ran back, Taylor heard a cry, and saw in the corner of her eye, a large pink tongue wrap around Sam, pulling him off his feet and towards the bus, where a smoker was standing. Unfortunately for Sam, Taylor was unable to shoot at the smoker due to the large pound of muscle that was charging at her.

Then she heard gunfire, and heard the tell-tail gasp of the smoker exploding, freeing Sam from its tongue. She found out later that Clark had managed to get back to his feet after the Tank had knocked him sky high over the cars, He had then found a M4 rifle on the ground, next to a dead soldier. Grabbing it, and the ammo belt, he had then ran, ignoring the pain of being hit by 50kg of solid muscle, up the car, climbed onto the bus, and shot the smoker.

The bit that Taylor saw came after that, as she had just hit the bus herself, with the tank right in front of her. Clark had then jumped off the bus, onto the tank, grabbed its head so he didn't fall off, and unloaded the entire clip into the beasts head. And 45 5.56mm NATO rounds to the head cannot and will not be ignored. It roared in pain, then grabbed Clark, and flung him to the ground. Taylor and Sam had then opened fire again on the tank, which was just about to finish Clark off; it took several more hits before falling backwards on its own weight, lying motionless in the middle of the road.

After a few more rounds, they were satisfied that it was dead, they then went to Clark, who as still stunned from being thrown to the ground by the tank.

"Are you insane?" Taylor half yelled at him, her icy exterior suddenly cracking as they helped him to his feet. "What were you thinking, jumping the Tank like that?"

"Well it worked didn't it?" Clark replied weakly to his defence.

"And the thing could have turned you into a pancake; it would have if we hadn't stopped it!" Taylor shot at him.

"It would have turned you into one if I hadn't distracted it." Clark responded. "Anyway, we should get out of here before anything else shows up; we're getting close to the office buildings anyway."

Just as quick as it had broken, Taylor's icy shell was back.

"Fine, then lets get going." She told them before heading through the alleyway.

"Clark, do you want some pain killers?" Sam asked him as they followed her.

"Nah, I've had worse, I can deal." He told him.

The group headed off through the alleyway, which led to another street that was littered with lots of debris, and unsurprisingly Zombies. With Taylor leading the way, they shot their way across the street, fighting off the zombies that tried to rush them.

While Taylor's familiar burst fire from her TMP rang through the air, it was accompanied by dull thuds as Clarks Axe since it turned out that the belt of ammo he grabbed, didn't actually have any ammo in it. Sam had decided to follow Clark's example and was using his cricket bat to knock heads.

58 zombies, 1 boomer, 2 hunters, 1 spitter, 2 Jockeys, 258 shots, and a small fridge later, the three were standing outside The Muldoven Office building.

"Great, so what, only 30 flights of stairs to go?" Clark said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"And a couple hundred offices." Sam added.

"Not helping guys." Taylor cut in, looking at the huge building.

With the elevators inside the building out of power, the group was forced to take the stairs, and oddly enough, found the first few floors deserted. When they reached the 4th floor, they found out why. It was filled, absolutely packed, with zombies. The group quickly retreated back to the staircase.

"Uh, ok, what do we do about that?" Clark asked

"Don't suppose any of you have a pipe bomb on you?" Sam asked

"We haven't even found a grenade, let alone a pipe bomb." Taylor told him.

Sam was about to suggest something else when they heard a familiar roar.

"Shit, Charger!" Sam yelled before they all ploughed out of its path, causing it to hit the wall behind them with a thud. All three of them opened fire on it before it could recover. Unfortunately, if the thud of its impact didn't get the hordes attention, the gun shots just did.

The entire horde charged at them, because both Sam and Clark had shotguns, they crouched in front, causing them to be able to deal with the horde at close range, while Taylor shot over them.

They mowed their way through the zombies, and the corpses were starting to form a wall as the zombies were trying to climb over it only to get shot.

But the group couldn't keep that strategy up for long, and then both Sam and Clark found themselves needing to reload at the same time, which meant that only Taylor's TMP was holding the horde back, and it didn't work so well at controlling large groups.

As Clark hurriedly tried to reload his gun, Sam just slung his over his shoulder and pulled out his cricket bat. He then charged into the remaining zombies, whacking anything he could reach.

As Sam had bought him enough time, Clark finished reloading and added the deep boom of his shotgun to the constant crack of the TMP. As they continued to mop up the horde, a Jockey snuck up from behind and Jumped Sam. Both Taylor and Clark hesitated as their view of Sam was blocked by zombies, they had a shot anyway, aiming at head height to try and avoid possible friendly fire. Luckily, one of their bullets must have hit it as they heard Sam yell

"YEA! Eat that you crazy back humper!"

They mowed down the remaining zombies, which were thankfully, void of anymore special infected.

"Ahh!" Sam sighed as he sat back into an office chair "Getting humped by a spindle legged freak really takes it out of you."

"Yea." Clark replied, not really listening "I wonder why there were all gathered here, rather then spread out like they usually do?"

"Maybe a boomer exploded their after eating some bad pizza." Sam suggested, not really caring by that point.

"Or maybe…" Clark began, when they heard something hit the ground with a clatter. "There's someone else here." He finished.

The three crept silently towards the door that the sound had originated from.

With flashlights on due to the lack of lighting, Taylor signalled for Sam and Clark to take places on the opposite side of the door. Hiding on the other side, she put her hand on the handle and counted down from 3 with her fingers.

As soon as she got to one, she flung open the door, then hid in case the person tried to shoot them.

It was a smart move as several gunshots resonated from inside the room as soon as the door opened.

"Hey!" Clark called out to the person in the room. "We're not infected here, so you don't need to shoot us."

He then stuck his head around to face the person and prove his point.

"Wait! You are human!"

(Suggestions, comments, feel free to review)


	4. Chapter 4: Hopes and disappointments

Rated M: for language and violence

I don't own Left 4 Dead; it's too epic 4 me.

**Chapter 4: Hopes and disappointments**

_Several gunshots resonated from inside the room as soon as the door opened._

"_Hey!" Clark called out to the person in the room. "We're not infected here, so you don't need to shoot us."_

_He then stuck his head around to face the person and prove his point._

"_Wait! You are human!"_

"Yea, completely zombie free." Clark said walking in full view of the person with his arms spread wide to show his nonhostile intent.

Clark suddenly found himself hit by a flurry of red hair and was pulled into what felt like a bone crushing hug.

"Actual humans, I don't believe it!" She cried.

"Yea, and the actual human needs to breath soon." Clark wheezed.

"Oh, sorry." She said before releasing him.

As the other two stepped out, Clark got a good look at her for a first time.

She had red hair, green eyes, wore Jeans, a white shirt, and a brown jumper. She also had a pistol, but no other weapons on her.

"So you were the reason there was a horde taking up this floor huh?" Sam asked

"Yea, I accidently broke a bile jar on the way up." She told them sheepishly.

"So why are you here in the first place?" Taylor asked.

"Hiding mainly, I used to work here, so I know my way around, and could avoid the zombies." She told them "Anyway, my name is Paige, and you three?"

"I'm Sam, that one is Clark, and she is Taylor." Sam told her, pointing to each one of them as he said their name.

"Nice to meet you, so why are you here?" Paige asked them.

"We're heading to the top of the building to set off some flares to catch the attention of a chopper." Sam told her.

"Really? Well, uh, I don't suppose that I could come with you?" She asked, looking nervous.

"Can you take care of yourself?" Taylor asked her.

"Enough to survive, I'm still getting the hang the hang of using guns, but I'm getting there." She told her.

"I can give you some tips, when I get a chance." Taylor told her thoughtfully.

"Anyway, we should get going before something else decides to show up." Clark told them, looking over at the staircase down.

Twenty six more stairways later, the group clambered onto roof. It had several ventilation boxes, a raised area, and a small shelter that was covered with a blue tarp.

"It seems that we weren't the only people to come up with this idea." Sam commented, pointing out the tarp.

"That's a good sign, a small shelter, and no bodies; it means that the people here very likely escaped." Paige told the group.

"Ok, so we'll wait here until a helicopter or something shows up, signal it with the flares, and we're out of here." Sam told them happily.

_5 hours later…_

Night had fallen over the city, not that it made much difference, since so many buildings had their lights on that it practically illuminated the place anyway, and the 4 survivors were still waiting on the roof top.

"You know, times like these make me really wish I had a pack of cards." Clark commented to the others.

Sam grunted his agreement, he was so bored and frustrated that he wished something would happen, anything, he would take a Tank right about now, just to help pass the time. Before the apocalypse, Sam's life had spiralled downwards ever since he had joined the gang. That was all until he had met her, after that meeting, he pulled out of the gang, made up with his parents, and started to pull it all back on track. She had left the country shortly before the outbreak, and Sam knew that the first thing he would do when he escaped was to find her again.

As the rest of the group sat around waiting, Clark had started pacing around the roof top. As he made his 3rd trip round, he heard the sound of helicopter blades… and the howl of agitated undead.

"Hey guys." Clark called running back to the others. "I have some good news and some bad news."

"The good news is, a helicopter is heading in this direction, the bad news is… a horde of zombies are following the sound its making." Clark explained quickly "This means that this building is probably about to get swamped with zombies."

"Ok, new plan." Sam told them, thinking on his feet. "I'll set of the flares and try to get the pilots attention, you guys have gotta keep the zombies at bay."

Clark, Paige, and Taylor all spread out to cover the only doorway to the roof, while Sam ran up to the raised area, pulled out a flare, lit it, and started to wave it in the air as a beacon, also helping the red smoke waft into the air.

It didn't take long, and zombies were soon breaking their way through the door. As soon as the first medium sized hole had appeared in the door, Taylor opened fire, shooting the zombies through the hole. The rest of the door soon gave way under the force of a boomer exploding in front of it, leaving the horde free to swarm the room, or try anyway. Taylor and Clark managed to stop most of the zombies from exciting the doorway, and Paige had managed to shoot several zombies despite her meagre skill with her pistol.

By this time, the helicopter had come into view for Sam, who was now jumping up and down, waving his hands with the flare still in it, to get choppers attention.

_Inside the helicopter…_

"Sir." The pilot said over the radio. "We have found survivors within the city."

"Are they Carriers?" A voice answered back.

"They appear to have contact with the infected." The pilot replied.

"Then you know your orders, Terminate them," The voice told him.

_On the roof top…_

"OVER HERE!" Sam yelled as the chopper approached. As it reached the roof top, Sam was about to turn to the others to tell them, when he saw movement emanating from the helicopter, more importantly, its two mounted miniguns.

"Oh shit! EVERYONE! WATCH OUT!" Sam roared, before jumping off the platform at a run and dragging everyone he could grab, and forcing them around to the front door of the stairwell, out of the helicopters site. Just in time it would seem as the helicopters shots were right behind them, and Sam felt several of them pass him as he ran around the corner.

"What the hell are they shooting at us for?" Paige yelled over the sounds of the miniguns.

"I don't know." Sam yelled back.

"It's coming around." Taylor told them, as they heard the helicopter fly closer.

"Downstairs." Clark yelled, and the group ran down the stairs before the helicopter could shoot at them again.

Leading with his Axe, Clark led the group down the 30 floors of the building, almost all filled with zombies. They had to run through, killing anything that got in the way as the helicopter had flown down and was shooting at them through the office windows.

They reached the bottom floor reception, and found it mercifully empty of zombies, since the zombies had all been chasing the source of the noise, aka the helicopter. Unfortunately the helicopter was still circling the building, waiting for them to leave.

"First a zombie apocalypse, now the rescue vehicles are shooting at us? Shit, shit, shit, what are we gonna do?" Clark said, more to himself rather then to the others.

"Look, over there." Taylor told them, pointing at a manhole that was next to an abandoned car. "The car should give us cover to climb down, assuming that we can even make it there."

"Distraction, we need a distraction." Clark muttered "I've got it!"

Clark suddenly ran out into the open street, shouting insults and popping shots with his shotgun at the helicopter, drawing the pilot's attention from the entrance, where the rest of the group was now running to the manhole.

As Clark saw Paige as the last one down the manhole, he was trying to figure out what to do next, the rest of the group were safe, but he was still facing the three hundred pound steel death machine, and while he could try to beat up the helicopters armour piercing bullets with only his face, running away seemed like a much better solution.

Clark suddenly found him racing zigzagedly from car to car, nearly getting shot more times then he would like to count. Somehow, amazingly, he made it to the manhole, and literally dived head first into the hole.

'**Crunch' **"Arr!"

"Woa, hey man, are you ok?" Sam asked, offering his hand "Here let's get you back on your feet."

"It's all right, the boxes broke my fall." Clark told him, getting to his feet, knocking away the bits of wood that was once several boxes.

"Ok Mr suicide, I'll take your word for it." Sam told him with a laugh.

"What? I'm not suicidal!" Clark told him in indignantly

"Says the guy who ran in front of a heavily armed helicopter, and called it a flying microwave." Paige pointed out.

"I was making things up on the fly ok, can't expect my best insults." Clark told her, trying to preserve the small shred of dignity he had left. "Anyway, in more important news, who the hell beefed?" He asked covering his nose as the smell hit him.

"No one, we're in the sewer, it's supposed to smell bad." Taylor told him.

Clark looked around, taking in the area for the first time. They were on a walkway that lined the walls of the sewer, with a thick stream of water, and gunk flowing through the middle.

"Point taken, so what now?" Clark asked.

"We should try to find a safe room, and then we can decide what to do from there." Paige replied to everybody's surprise "There is probably one in here somewhere, since sewers would be pretty easy to seal off, and the walls tend to be rather solid."

"Works for me, so let's start looking around." Sam told them.

The sewers were mostly empty due to the racket that the helicopter had caused, and the group found a few useful things floating around.

"Ew, who the hell puts a pipe bomb down here?" Sam said, pointing out the pipe-bomb floating in the sewage.

"Probably floated off some dead guy." Clark answered, reaching in and grabbing the bomb.

"You will remember to wash your hand before you eat with it, won't you?" Sam asked him as he wiped the sewage water off his hand, and grenade onto his pants.

"Find me a working tap down here, and I'll remember." Clark answered.

"Speaking of dead guys with weapons, I found another pistol down here for you Paige." Taylor told her, before tossing her the pistol.

"That's funny, it feels pretty dry." Paige noted.

"That's because I found it on the sidewalk rather then the actual sewage stream." She told her, shaking her head at the other two.

A few tunnels later, the group saw the familiar red of a safe room door, unfortunately it had one problem.

"Damn it, it's locked." Sam told them, trying to open the door.

"Hold up, and move over." Clark told him. Sam moved out of the way as Clark crouched in front of the lock. Pulling out two wires from the inside of his boot, he set to work.

"What's he doing?" Paige asked Taylor.

"He's using an improvised pick and a tension wrench to pick a pin-and-tumbler lock." Taylor explained.

Paige was even more confused then before, and it showed on her face.

"He's picking the lock." Taylor told her, noticing her expression.

"They cover lock picking in army training?" Clark asked without looking up.

"Yes, they did." She replied

"Since when did police officers learn to pick a lock?" Sam asked him

"Messed up childhood." Clark replied "Got it!"

The door swung open and the four piled inside, the room was L shaped and they heard a shout originating from the other side. Clark had enough time to see three people pointing weapons at them, which he, Sam, and Taylor instinctively pointed theirs back; Paige took several seconds longer to realize what was going on before she pointed her pistols at them.

"How the hell did you get in?" asked a big guy in a leather jacket.

(Suggestions, comments, feel free to review)


	5. Chapter 5: New friends and more enemies

Rated M: for language and violence

I don't own Left 4 Dead; it's too epic for me.

**Chapter 5: New friends and more enemies**

"_How the hell did you get in?"_

"With epic skill." Clark answered back to the big guy in a leather jacket.

Now, without the immediate threat of being shot, Clark got a good look at the three people in front of him. The one, who had spoken was an older man with an intimidating presence around his 6 foot frame of muscle, also enhanced by his tattoos that covered his arms, He wore a leather vest, a white shirt, and jeans, and also held a tactical automatic shotgun. Another was a bald African American man who was obviously still dressed from work, with a white shirt, a red tie, and black work pants; he was holding an M16 rifle. The last was young woman, with brown hair pulled back into a pony tail, she wore a light red jumper and jeans, and she was also using a hunting rifle.

"Look, I really don't want to have an unnecessary fire fight here, so lets just put the weapons down, ok." Clark told both his group and the others. He then stowed his shotgun to prove his sincerity.

Following his lead, Taylor and Paige stowed their weapons, along with the office worker and the young woman. Sam and the biker on the other hand, were still pointing their shotguns at each other, and didn't look like they were going to back down soon.

"Francis man, come on." The office worker said to the biker

"Sam, let it go." Taylor advised Sam.

"I'll put my gun away after he does, Louis." Francis told them, pointing at Sam.

"To hell with that, I'm not letting you have a gun on me!" Sam shot back.

Frustrated, and slightly annoyed, Clark then pulled out his shotgun in one hand, which was then pointed at Sam, and his M4 in the other (even though it was empty) and pointed it at Francis."

"Ok you two, put the guns down…now!" Clark told them, quietly, but still sounding threatening. While not the most practical method, it worked, both of them stowed their weapons, then Clark did the same.

"Ok, so now the lightly veiled threats are out of the way, who are you guys?" Paige asked the three.

"I'm Louis; I used to be a junior systems analyst in my company's IT department." The office worker told them.

"Name's Zoey, I was a college student." The young woman told them

The biker grunted something that sounded like "Francis." It was obvious that he was less then happy about finding new survivors.

"So who are you four then?" Louis asked them.

"I'm Paige, used to just work in an office." Paige introduced herself.

"Call me Clark, I used to be a police officer, now I'm… just me I guess." Clark told them.

"I'm Sam, and the reason why these guys are all still alive." Sam told them, then found his three friends looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"Taylor." Taylor told them

"And she's back to one word sentences again." Clark noted.

Not entirely sure what to make of the last comment, the other group went back to their original places before they had burst in. Francis was finishing off what looked like beef jerky, while Louis and Zoey were examining Louis's Leg, which was bandaged.

"What happened?" Sam asked them, walking over as Zoey rewrapped the leg.

"Got a bad hit by a Tank a few weeks ago, my leg's almost healed now, but we're keeping an eye on it just in case." Louis explained.

As they talked, Taylor walked over to the to the saferooms ammunitions dump, where she began loading up her guns, she then saw something that made her grin, the kind of grin that chills the bones.

"Hey, does anybody own this?" Taylor called out to the rest of the room, holding up a combat rifle.

"No, it was probably left behind by another group that went through here." Zoey told her.

"Well, it's mine now." Taylor declared, before sitting down and dismantling the gun to check its usability

As Clark also headed to the ammo dump to stock up for his two guns, Paige slipped down one of the saferoom walls into an exhausted sitting position. Fighting off unending hordes of zombies was, tiring to say the least, she thought to herself. The only reason she had survived this long, or so she kept telling herself, was to see her parents again, but the likely hood of that was becoming less and less likely, especially when the helicopter decided to shoot at them rather then help them. While Paige was scratching her head over why they had been attacked in the first place, Clark headed over to her, throwing a bunch of shotgun shells at Sam who was still talking to Louis.

He passed her some pistol ammo before sliding down the stone wall into a sitting position next to her.

"You all right?" He asked

"Been better, your usual bumps and bruises but can't complain." Paige told him before asking "What about yourself? I mean, you did jump down the manhole head first."

"Nah, I've had worse, like the time that some nut stabbed me in the arm dressed as a clown, now that was a mentally scaring experience for the children there, anyway the boxes really did break my fall." Clark told her

"So, what are you planning to do if we manage to get out of here?" Clark asked her, changing the subject.

"Hopefully, find my parents; they left the country before the infection." Paige answered him. Now curious about her new friend, Paige decided to ask "Do you have any family on the outside?"

Clark just shook his head sadly in a silent no. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes before Paige felt her stomach starting to complain.

"I'm gonna grab something to eat, I don't know about you but, all this zombie killing has made me hungry." Paige told him, while searching through her meagre belongings for food

"I know what you mean." Clark agreed, starting to look for his food through his belongings "I would kill for a good cheese burger at this point."

The two were soon joined by Sam and Taylor in their meal, and eventually, Louis, Zoey, and Francis joined them.

"So where are you four off too after here?" Louis asked them.

"I was thinking that we should head through the School along this route, its close by to a manhole, and the sewers should give us some cover until that point." Taylor explained, while pointing out the route on a map that Louis had pulled out.

"No way, the school would be crawling with little zombie children." Sam protested.

"Look Sam, no matter where we go, the place will be crawling with zombies, but if we can pass through the school, we can get to the Zoo from there." Taylor explained.

"Why are we heading for the Zoo anyway?" Sam asked.

"There's a mechanics garage not far from here, we should hopefully be able to commandeer a vehicle of some sort, which we can use to escape the city." Taylor told him.

"But I thought you said that the roads were blocked off." Sam pointed out.

"I said many of them were blocked off, and we can get passed them with some unorthodox driving." Taylor explained.

"So where are you guys headed?" Clark asked Louis, who was watching Sam and Taylor argue.

"We were thinking of taking this route here." Louis told him, pointing out a trail with his finger on the map "out of the sewers and pass this office building complex, and start raiding houses for supplies."

"Uh, you probably don't want to go that way." Clark cut in, pointing at the office complex. "We were there earlier, trying to signal a helicopter that we saw flying around, and when it found us, it started to shoot at us, and it's probably still there."

"Ugh, I hate the military." Francis interjected after hearing Clark.

"You guys don't know, do you?" Zoey asked

"The military are patrolling the hot zone, but not to find and evac survivors." Louis told them.

"Then why are they still here? And why did the shoot at us?" Paige asked.

"Because their orders are to find and kill or capture carriers." Louis explained.

"Uh, ok I'll bite, what's a carrier?" Clark asked.

_Military safe zone and research facility…_

"A carrier, Coach, is one who is, or has become immune to the 'flue', but the flue still resides within them, and passes on from them, hence the word carrier, rather like a genetic carrier, when one is affected with a condition, but it does not effect their offspring, but their offspring will still carry the condition to pass on to their kids."

Coach found himself in a bare, brick room with a table and two chairs; he was sitting in one of the chairs, while a man wearing a suit was sitting in another, explaining why exactly he and his friends were fucked.

"That still doesn't explain why your keeping us here as lab rats, locked up or being experimented on." Coach retorted angrily.

The man in the suit laughed "Please, your carriers, your not even considered human anymore, our government has asked us to procure results for a vaccine, by any means possible, and if a few carriers happen to die in the mean time, it makes no difference."

Coach was still seething with anger as the guards escorted him back into his and Ellis's thread bare cell. It was cold and musty, with grey brickwork and a bleak, oppressive feeling to it.

The man had interrogated him on the past actions of him and his friends since the infection started, and even before then.

Ellis looked up from inspecting his arm on his bed, as Coach re-entered their cell.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Not much, some suit was asking me questions about what we had done during the infection, and shit like that." Coach explained.

"Yea, well I'm still being used as an experimental guinea pig." Ellis told him, rubbing a nasty red patch on his arm.

"Apparently the government is part of this operation, and they don't mind losing a people like us along the way." Coach told him.

"You know what this means then?" Ellis asked him "It means we gotta get out of here."

"Yea, ok, when you can pick the lock on our door, and then fight your way through an encampment of armed guards, let me know." Coach told him.

"Ok man, now you're starting to sound like Nick." Ellis told him with a laugh.

_Sewer saferoom…_

"So the government is capturing and experimenting on people like us, to find a cure?" Clark asked

"That's right; I always said the military was full of shit." Frances replied.

"Ok, so, lets say we get to the car, what then? We can leave the city, but where are we gonna go?" Sam asked

"Look, if you guys can get a vehicle, then you can meet up with us at our safe zone, it's a place that's located down south, in the hills over here." Louis told them, while pointing out the area on the map. "It's a good place to hold up, there's only one way in, but there a multiple ways out if you have the keys."

"What is it?" Paige asked

"It's a prison, since it's made not to let people in or out easily it's really easy to defend, and we managed to find the keys to the area." Zoey explained. "So far, we have only had to leave to stock up on more supplies."

"Why don't we all just head there together then?" Sam asked them, slightly confused.

"Bigger groups are more likely to attract the horde." Louis explained.

"Alright, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat." Clark said with a yawn.

"Yea, big day tomorrow." Sam remarked, before heading over to the stack of sleeping bags in a corner off the saferoom.

"Everyday is a big day around here." Taylor replied to Sam's retreating back.

As the two groups went to bed, Clark, Sam, Paige, and Taylor were still processing the information, and they ended up going to bed wondering if there was really an escape from this nightmare.

(Suggestions, comments, feel free to review)

Authors note: From here on, the chapters are going to take longer then before since school has started up again for me, so my spare time is limited. I'm still open to suggestions for pairings for both the new and old characters.

6


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